Missouri

About 300 alumni of North Kansas City High School, some of whom traveled hundreds of miles, gathered one last time Thursday night to pack themselves on wooden planks for the Hornets' final girls and boys basketball games at the facility that's been open since 1951.

These days, high school gymnasiums are usually built with retractable bleachers. But when the North Kansas City High School Fieldhouse is torn down and the wooden planked seats removed, the wrecking ball will drop on two giant slabs of staircased concrete.

But Kansas City has a respectable history of candy-making. We all know about Russell Stover, but several other vintage candies are, or have been, made in the area, and there's no better time than Valentine's Day for making note of that legacy.

Love them or hate them, these are confectionary standards that your great-grandparents might have bought (for a nickel).

This week on Statehouse Blend Missouri, we meet the eastern Missouri district that supported Donald Trump with 61% of the vote in 2016, but in a special election last week elected a Democrat to the Missouri House for the first time since 2008. We also meet the Democrat they elected, Rep.-Elect Mike Revis, a 27-year-old first-time candidate from Fenton, Mo. And we talk with political science professor Patrick Miller about how much we should read into special election results like these.

The attorney for the man whose ex-wife had an affair with Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says his client has been subpoenaed by a grand jury.

Attorney Al Watkins said in a news release that the ex-husband who secretly recorded his wife's admission of the 2015 affair with Greitens had been asked Monday to testify. The release did not say when that testimony would happen.

It's Saturday afternoon, and Estephania Chang-Jimenez, 19, just got off work. The small Lee's Summit apartment fills with the aroma of fresh mole and cilantro from her mom's cooking. It was a long day.

"There was nothing crazy, just the normal pinching and kicking," Chang-Jimenez laughs.

“As Missouri goes, so goes the nation” — or so the saying goes. Yet, the state hasn’t lived up to its bellwether status for a long time, at least when it comes to predicting presidential elections: Missouri has chosen a Republican in every one since 2000, even though the national popular vote favored Democrats four out of five times.

Entrepreneurs Keely Edgington and Beau Williams, owners of a Westport bar called Julep, say that the Affordable Care Act has been an easy, inexpensive way for them to get health insurance.

Having insurance has been critical for the married couple. Their daughter Lula was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 when she was nine months old. Even with insurance, the family needed help from friends and family to pay her medical costs.

Just days into the 2018 legislative session, after 13 years of service in the General Assembly, Kansas City Republican Senator Ryan Silvey was out of the statehouse and beginning a six-year term on the Missouri Public Service Commission. Silvey had frequently clashed with Governor Eric Greitens, and in this Statehouse Blend Missouri "exit interview," Silvey acknowledges that the governor may have nominated him partly to eliminate a "thorn in the side."

Some works of art hold mysteries that may never be revealed (the Mona Lisa’s smile will likely remain an enigma forever). But many years after completing public murals in Liberty, Missouri, David McClain is ready to talk about his artwork’s secrets.

The fallout over Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ admitted affair and allegations of blackmail was swift, with the local prosecutor heeding Thursday's calls from Republicans and Democrats for an investigation, and some Democrats suggesting the governor should resign.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens used his State of the State address Wednesday to announce a proposal to cut state taxes this year, even as the state budget is still adjusting to earlier state and federal tax cuts that are just now going into effect.

Among a list of destinations to avoid for reasons like high murder rates (Honduras), ethnic cleansing (Myanmar) and the environmental threats of tourism (Thailand), Missouri makes the list for apparent racism.

It's a Republican season in the Missouri General Assembly. The GOP controls the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities, and Republican Governor Eric Greitens is working hard to advance a conservative agenda. But Democrats press on, seeking to influence legislation where they can and, sometimes, taking their case directly to the people.

The year 2017 saw the transformation of a relatively unknown outsider into a globe-trotting governor who might just be the most interesting man in Missouri. Division abounded in Jefferson City; sometimes even among the various Republicans who dominate the House, Senate and governor's mansion. But the raft of news laws have made Missouri a different place—whether for better or worse depends on one's perspective.

Meanwhile, 2018 promises to be no less fascinating, with likely debates tax reform and education, budget cuts and transportation ... and, oh yes, a looming election.

The Kansas City branch of the NAACP on Friday voiced its opposition to the Kansas City Council's approval of a plan to privatize Westport sidewalks on weekends and vowed to fight the ordinance before it takes effect this spring.

The council's 8-5 decision earlier this month allowing privatization "amounts to failure to perform public duty," said Rodney Williams, president of the local NAACP and pastor at Swope Parkway United Christian Church.

Shultz is the honorary consul of South Africa to Kansas and Missouri. Born in New York, he moved to the Midwest in 1960. After graduating from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1967, he practiced law in Kansas City for 12 years. Beginning in 1979, he worked in Wichita as a corporate attorney for two decades. It was during this time that he found himself in South Africa during the late 1980’s on business.

In a corner of her house in Sparta in southwest Missouri, Jymie Jimerson has set up a kind of shrine. It has Native American art representing her Cherokee heritage alongside Willie Nelson albums, books and photos in remembrance of her late husband. On one side is a copy of Willie’s mid-’70s LP, “Red Headed Stranger.”

“When Steve was young, he had red hair and a red beard, so he always really identified with Willie’s Red Headed Stranger,” Jimerson says. “I try to keep it up there as a reminder of better days.”

Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, has joined with a chorus of colleagues—including the majority of women in the Senate—in calling on their fellow Democrat, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, to resign following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.

Over the past decade, few issues have occupied as prominent and contentious a spot on the national stage—and in Missouri—as health care. It's not just about politics: Debates in the General Assembly, actions by past and present governors and oversight by state agencies all result in real impact on people's lives.

It’s a familiar story in rural America. Four years ago the Pemiscot County hospital, the lone public hospital in Missouri’s poorest county, nearly closed. What’s keeping it in business today has also become increasingly common in rural healthcare: relationships with a handful of local pharmacies.

In the hopes of not repeating a problematic year for soybean crops, farmers across the U.S. are deciding how best to protect their crops and their livelihood next year from drift damage caused by the weed killer dicamba.